Sign displays have existed in the art for many years and have become more and more sophisticated with the growth in technology. Such sign displays, particularly for outdoor advertising, have involved various media such as neon, television, and animated graphics. In addition, such prior art sign displays known to applicant have involved the use of multiple media in order to provide a display message. For example, in 1985, in Tsukuba, Japan, a multi-media theater show exhibit employed an interior application of a perforated vinyl front projection surface which was used for a laser and slide display in a reflection mode, in combination with a video wall which was mounted behind the perforated surface and was visible through the perforations of the projection surface in a transmission mode. The video wall covered a small segment of the entire perforated surface, such as approximately thirty percent, and the display switched between the front projection of lasers and slides and the video wall which was displayed through a section of the perforated material. The images, however, were not continuous tone photographic images and the mediums employed were separate and distinct different mediums and did not provide a plurality of different selectable media effects from two different displayable scenes dependent on two different lighting effects which were selectively controllable to selectively illuminate the separate display areas.
Another prior art system was employed by applicant's assignee at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988 in which an exterior application which consisted of a perforated metal surface or metal skin which displayed a painted on work of art in the reflection mode was employed. This front surface was illuminated at dawn, at dusk, and at night. Located behind the perforated surface, again, was a video wall, and two light boxes occupying a segment of the total area, such as approximately 50 percent in the transmission mode. In this arrangement, the perforated surface was displayed during the day, while during the evening performance the video wall and light boxes were featured. Again, as in the Tsukuba arrangement, the images were not continuous tone photographic images and there were separate and distinct different kinds of art and media and the two scenes were not integrated due to different lighting effects.
Moreover, in the prior art sign displays known to applicant it was costly to produce the separate and distinct different kinds of art and media and the displays could not readily be changed if, for example, it was desired to substitute new advertising messages in the sign display. In addition, if used as outdoor signage, such signage is usually viewed at a high angle, such as about 45 degrees, at which perforated circular holes are perceived as narrow ellipses or horizontal slits thereby reducing the visibility of the transparent back image. This is overcome in the present invention by the use of a vertical stripe-like format that allows full visibility of both front and back lighted images. Moreover, in accordance with the present invention, in which a light transmitting substrate is employed involving a matrix system that combines both a reflective front image and a transparent rear image in one layer, such as by double exposing conventional photographic film based material through a positive and a negative template in order to combine both images into a single layer, both the front and rear images are the same type of art, namely continuous tone photographic art, providing further advantages over the prior art, such as the ability to change the art quickly and the ability to simulate digital video effects using still photographic media, such as by segmenting both the front and rear image into identical modules and employing a computer based control system to switch between front and rear illumination. Thus, the present invention provides several advantages over the prior art particularly with respect to increased flexibility, ease of use, and the ability to combine various media effects in a dynamic manner.